Email received Thursday, May 15, 2003, 8:41 PM



Confederation of Eagle and Condor Honored at UN

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

The Sacred Staffs of the Confederacy of the Eagle and the Condor arrived at the United Nations headquarters this morning and were received by the traditional leadership of the Haudenausaunee Confederacy. The Haudenausaunee, also known as the People of the Longhouse, are here in New York along with Indigenous Peoples from around the world attending the second session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council.

Mr. Wilton Littlechild of the Cree Nation and also member of the Permanent Forum led the legation which took the Sacred Staffs into the UN Headquarters where they were acknowledged and received ceremonially before the assembled delegates of other Indigenous Confederations from around the world. The Sacred Staffs were given the honor of being placed at the forefront of the Permanent Forum platform throughout the day where they were guarded by the Peace and Dignity runners.

During the forum, Mr. Littlechild reported to the United Nations of his visit as rapporteur of the Permanent Forum to the traditional gathering of Aztlan Indigenous Nations held in Izkalotlan in March of this year. The Declaration and Plan of Action of this Tlahtokan Aztlan submitted to the Permanent Forum is now an official UN Document and is available at www.tonatierra.org and at:
United Nations
E/C.19/2003/CRP.2

Archive of Aztlan

The act of international recognition, acceptance and establishment within the protocols of the United Nations system of the Archive of Aztlan fulfills the need for a reference system of indigenous international law wherein an archive of Treaties, Accords, and constructive agreements shall serve to define the relationship between the Indigenous Nations and the states. Until this point, the only official references have come from the systems established by colonization and subjugation to regimes of domination of the Indigenous Peoples and territories which is now illegal under international law.

Called upon to address the morning session of the second session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues the Confederation of the Eagle and the Condor made the call to other indigenous confederacies of nations from other continents and regions of the world to join efforts in mutual support and recognition.

"We have made this journey to the door of the United Nations headquarters as an assertion of our self determination, our right to self definition and spiritual fulfillment as Indigenous Nations of the Earth. The government states of the United Nations system may have status as internationally recognized governments, states, or government states, but we are the Nations," said Gustavo Gutierrez, coordinator of the Peace and Dignity Journeys for North America.

The Indigenous Peoples Peace Initiative is one such global campaign being coordinated from the Nahuacalli, an embassy of Indigenous Peoples located in Phoenix, Arizona. The Indigenous Peoples Peace Initiative is an expression of the resistance of the Indigenous Nations to the calls to war by the government states of the world.

During the today's session the delegation of Tlahtokan Nahaucalli submitted the Map of Aztlan for incorporation in the now established Archive of Aztlan here at the UN.